The Princess of Wales has served up glamour at Wimbledon, attending the women’s singles final at which Iga Swiatek cemented her place as an all-time great of women’s tennis.

Swiatek carried out an unprecedented, merciless 6-0 6-0 destruction of Amanda Anisimova in a brutal Wimbledon Centre Court final wipe-out.

Ahead of the final, the princess, wearing a white belted jacket and pleated skirt, met the winner of the ladies’ wheelchair final, Wang Ziying.

Accompanied by All England Club chairwoman Deborah Jevans, she also met 12-year-old Sophie Kneen, who was due to perform the coin toss at the ladies’ final, and eight-year-old Lydia Lowe, who did the same at the ladies’ wheelchair final.

Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales sits next to tennis legend Billie Jean King in the Royal Box on Centre Court.  Photo: AAP

Kate, who donned a bow-shaped brooch in the Wimbledon colours of purple and green, also spoke with Jefferson Iweh, a ticket sales operator; Bob Flint, an honorary steward; and Wimbledon foundation host Shaniah Williams.

Last year, the princess presented the Wimbledon men’s final trophy to Carlos Alcaraz, in her second public engagement since she announced her cancer diagnosis.

The Princess of Wales’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, were seen in the Royal Box on Monday, with the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Gloucester also in attendance.

The Queen told tennis star Novak Djokovic that she was keeping her “fingers crossed” as she visited Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The Princess Royal’s son Peter Phillips attended the championships on Wednesday, with Hugh Grant and former prime minister Sir John Major also in the Royal Box.

Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah, former footballer Ian Wright and Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins were among the notable names to attend a hot day at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Temperatures are forecast to peak at around 30C and fall short of a record for a women’s singles final day, with 31.2C having been recorded on the day of the 1976 final between Chris Evert and Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Three fans also needed attention on Centre Court on Thursday in similarly hot conditions.

The men’s singles semi-final on Friday between Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz was stopped twice in less than five minutes because of crowd emergencies, amid temperatures of 32C on Centre Court.

The extreme heat during the 1976 tournament prompted organisers to allow umpires to remove their jackets.

Wimbledon has said the heat rule will apply for all singles events for players, which allows for a 10-minute break when the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is at or above 30.1C.

The rule will apply after the second set for all best-of-three-set matches, and after the third set for all best-of-five-set matches.

Players may leave the court during the break, but they may not receive coaching or medical treatment.

Swiatek destroys

In blazing sunshine on the Centre Court, Polish great Iga Swiatek made a nonsense of all her previous struggles on grass-courts as she swept to a majestic victory for a sixth grand slam triumph on Saturday in less than an hour.

The ‘double-bagel’ triumph, which lasted just 57 minutes, had never happened in a Wimbledon final in the Open era.

The last time it occurred at SW19 was 114 years ago in 1911, when Dorothea Lambert Chambers beat Dora Boothby in an all-British final, while the only recent equivalent was the 1988 French Open final when Steffi Graf routed Natasha Zvereva.

Swiatek is the eighth consecutive first-time Wimbledon champion.  Photo: AAP

It ensured that at 24, Swiatek becomes the youngest woman since Serena Williams to win majors on all three surfaces after her four French Open titles on clay and her 2022 US Open win.

Presented with the Venus Rosewater Dish by Kate, the Princess of Wales, Swiatek had delivered a right royal performance, exhibiting machine-like quality with her groundstrokes as Anisimova, the American 13th seed, never recovered from getting broken to 15 in the opening service game.

Amanda Anisimova got sympathy from the Princess of Wales after her loss. Photo: AAP

“I think everyone’s in a state of shock at what’s happened,” said three-time Wimbledon champ John McEnroe, echoing everyone’s feelings from the commentary box. “Swiatek played someone who absolutely froze. And it was so hard to watch.”

Indeed, Animisova couldn’t find her first serve and was error-ridden, coughing up 28 mistakes in just a dozen games, while Swiatek, with just 11 unforced errors, was a model of efficiency, finally sealing the match with a 10th winner, a lovely backhand.

Swiatek is the eighth consecutive first-time Wimbledon champion, but hers is a name that truly belongs in the event’s hall of fame after her previous struggles had seen her never get beyond the quarter-finals.

“I didn’t even dream of this, because it was way too far,” smiled Swiatek on court afterwards. “I never really expected this one.”

Inevitably, though, the tears came for Animisova, whose comeback had been one of the stories of the championship, with the former teenage prodigy having stepped away from tennis for eight months in 2023 to prioritise her mental health.

The previous year, she had lost in qualifying, but returned this year with a superb run sealed by a spectacular victory over world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semis.

Amanda Anisimova got sympathy from the Princess of Wales after her loss.

“I ran out of gas today and I wish I could have put on a better performance for you,” she told the crowd after paying a tearful tribute to her mum.

Swiatek, the first Polish winner at Wimbledon in 148 years, had spent 125 weeks as the world No.1 between 2022 and 2024 but had slumped to a No.8 seeding after going more than a year without claiming a title since the 2024 French Open win. Now she’s back where she belongs.

—with AAP